The slowdown in the foreign sector has slowed the rate of economic growth in Spain, which was 1.8% year-on-year in the second quarter of the year compared to 4.2% in the previous quarter. As recognized by the national accounting provisions data published this morning by the INE, in the second quarter the Spanish economy grew 0.4% compared to the first, a rate more than one tenth lower than the 0.6% registered in the first quarter.
Spokespersons for the executive, however, stressed that “in a context of high uncertainty and rising interest rates, the Spanish economy continues to demonstrate its strength and resilience.”
Growth in the second quarter was boosted by the strength of national demand, which grew 1.5%, thanks to the significant improvement in investment in construction, capital goods, and household consumption. A meritorious behavior, according to the first vice president, Nadia Calviño, “in the complex international context of economic slowdown and rising interest rates.” External demand, on the other hand, contributed only 0.3 points to the economy, 2.5 points less than in the first quarter.
The strength of the economy was reflected in employment, with hours worked growing by 1.3% quarter-on-quarter from 1.3%, with the same increase in full-time equivalent jobs (representing 1.1 points more than in the first quarter Compared to last year, hours worked grew by 0.6%, a rate five tenths lower than that of the first quarter of 2023, and full-time equivalent positions did so by 2.9%, six tenths more than in the first quarter, which represents an increase of 546,000 full-time equivalent jobs in one year.
The INE also highlights price tensions as a negative reverse. Thus, the implicit GDP deflator increased by 6.0% compared to the same quarter of 2022, a figure that despite everything is three tenths lower than that of the previous quarter. The interannual variation of the unit labor cost stood at 5.6% this quarter.
